Syracuse University is one of two recipients of the 2004 Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award, presented annually by Howard and Connie Clery, founders of Security on Campus, Inc. This year's winners were announced tonight at the 2004 Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association's (NECUSA) annual conference banquet, which was hosted by SU earlier this week. SU shares this year's honor with Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.
According to Connie Clery, SU received the honor, "for maintaining a caring and committed sworn police force patrolling not only the campus but also the surrounding police district, and for demonstrating the highest commitment to their students' wellbeing. Syracuse University has set a noteworthy example for universities nationwide."
SU Senior Vice President for Human Services and Government Relations Eleanor Ware accepted the award on behalf of Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw.
"Syracuse University has been courageous from the very beginning. They have actively sought to help rape victims by encouraging them to report. In the important issue of acquaintance rape, they have been ahead of the times and continue to set a high standard that other schools strive to attain," says Catherine Bath, executive director of Security on Campus, Inc.
Bath also cites SU's assistance with Security on Campus' Peer Education program "Safe On Campus," for which the organization has begun launching highly praised pilot programs.
Security on Campus, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose many goals include educating students, parents and campus communities about crime on the nation's
college and university campuses; offering guidance to victims and their families pertaining to laws, victims' organizations and legal counsel; fostering security improvements through campus community initiatives; and providing programs to reduce alcohol and drug abuse. The Clerys co-founded the organization in 1987, following the rape and murder of their daughter, Jeanne, by a fellow student in her dormitory at Lehigh University the previous year.
Officially chartered in 1870 as a private, coeducational institution of higher education, Syracuse University is a leading student-centered research university. Syracuse's 12 schools and colleges share a common mission: to promote learning through teaching, research, scholarship, creative accomplishment and service while embracing the core values of quality, caring, diversity, innovation and service. The 938-acre campus is home to more than 18,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and 90 countries.
